NPR News: 03-31-2025 8PM EDT

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. The Trump administration has deported more immigrants to a Salvadorian prison, saying they're violent gang members.
MPR's Adrian Florido reports comes even amid legal challenges, questioning how the government is identifying gang members for deportation to El Salvador. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the government sent 17 violent criminals to El Salvador.
He claimed they're members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs. El Salvador's president posted videos of the men being unloaded from a plane and locked up in a prison.
Earlier this month, President Trump sent more than 130 alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, arguing that an 18th century wartime law gave them authority to summarily deport them without hearings. Some of their families have denied their in-gangs.
A federal judge temporarily blocked more deportations under that law. It's not clear if this new group of men were expelled in violation of the judge's ruling or because they had valid deportation orders.
Adrienne Florivo, NPR News. Nearly 2,000 scientists published an open letter today warning the American public that science is under threat.
NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin has more. We all rely on science.
The letter begins, continuing, quote, science gave us the smartphones in our pockets, the navigation systems in our cars, and life-saving medical care. The authors go on to assert that after decades of investment, America's world-class research enterprise is at risk of crumbling as the Trump administration cuts billions of dollars in grants and 20,000 employees from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The letter encourages the American public to call their lawmakers and call for an end to the, quote, assault on science. HHS did not respond to NPR's request for comment about the letter.
Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington. President Trump is expected to make more big tariff announcements this week.
NPR Scott Horsley reports, so far the White House has offered few clues about what kind of additional import taxes might be in store. President Trump's new tariffs on cars and car parts are set to take effect this week.
The president's also promised an announcement on what he's calling reciprocal tariffs, which could add additional taxes on imports from some of the nation's biggest trading partners. Gasoline prices are climbing as refiners make the switch to more expensive summer blends of fuel.
AAA reports the average price of regular gas is about $3.17 a gallon, a nickel more than a month ago. Gas is still much cheaper than this time last year, however, thanks in part to tepid demand.
Scott Worsley, NPR News, Washington. The Trump administration says it's reviewing around $9 billion in federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard, claiming the school has allowed anti-Semitism on the campus unchecked.
The same federal task force cut $400 million from Columbia University. U.S.
futures contracts are trading lower at this hour. Dow futures down about two-tenths of a percent.
You're listening to NPR News. Two NASA astronauts are quickly readjusting to Earth's gravity after a long, unplanned stint in orbit.
Empire's Nell Greenfield Voice reports at a post-flight news conference, the astronauts said they're feeling better every day. Sonny Williams and Butch Wilmore went up on a test flight of Boeing's new Starliner.
Their trip was supposed to last about eight days. Instead, they spent over eight months in orbit on the International Space Station because NASA had concerns about glitches and wanted them to return in a SpaceX capsule.
Sunny Williams says all the attention was humbling and surprising as she heard from friends and family that people were interested and wondering what's going on and concerned about our health and all that kind of stuff while we're up there. They arrived home about two weeks ago.
She says initially she felt wobbly on her feet, but now she feels so good she just went on a three-mile run. Nell Greenfield-Boyce, NPR News.
SpaceX is set to launch the first human spaceflight directly over the Earth's polar regions from Florida tonight. The trip on the FRAM-2, with a crew of four on board, will last for four days, and it's privately funded.
Mission Commander Chung Won is a co-founder of Crypto Companies. He selected the rest, a Norwegian filmmaker, a robotics researcher, and a polar explorer.
One task of the flight, the crew will try to exit the spacecraft once it's back on Earth without additional medical support, which is part of a study on how well humans can perform basic tasks after a spaceflight. I'm Janine Hurst, NPR News in Washington.
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